Peter Bateman sends this update regarding a couple of vans currently being worked on in Australia:

The Oz J fraternity have about 12 J’s in reconstruction this year. And that is not counting the V6 Hot Rod just completed by OzRods in Brisbane.

JB 41298 is to be sign written ‘the Upholsterer’ and is almost ready for its trip to the New South Wales registration department following a two year rebuild. This van is almost original. Will Hughes, upholsterer and custodian of the van, hopes to visit Mr Ferguson, the original owner, on one of his first drives. It will only be a journey of 250 kilometres, lovely distance to get to know the van. The Ferguson family had 14 J type vans in their Golden Crust bakery at Goulburn, NSW.

The second revitalisation is of the old Golden Galley Clothing van from central NSW. This van, whilst keeping a very original J type look and feel is fitted with a Ford Mustang V8 coupled to a Jaguar rear end. As with many Oz J’s using a larger engine we find the Mitsubishi L300 a convenient chassis to use. Those who have never been in a J type with disc brakes, power steering and a surfeit of Vrooooom AND handling will be left with a big grin on their faces.

To those who have sentiments of sacrilege at such a thought I’d just like to say the custodian of the V8 has another two J projects and both will be original.

By the by, the 12 projects mentioned are those currently in progress. There are others just a little further away. There is no stopping the J in Oz.

Peter Bateman Sydney March 2014

Peter was also surprised to see Kelly Ashton’s son AJ playing on a computer game that featured a J! Go to

http://kizi.com/games/rich-cars-3 to see what it’s all about, but don’t expect to understand how to play it!